Giacobbe Giusti, Merneptah Stele
The Merneptah Stele in its current location
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Material | Granite |
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Writing | Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs |
Created | c. 1208 BC |
Discovered | 1896 |
Present location | Egyptian Museum, Cairo |
Identification | JE 31408 |
The Merneptah Stele—also known as the Israel Stele or the Victory Stele of Merneptah—is an inscription by the ancient Egyptian king Merneptah (reign: 1213 to 1203 BC) discovered by Flinders Petrie in 1896 at Thebes, and now housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.[1][2]
The text is largely an account of Merneptah’s victory over the Libyans and their allies, but the last 3 of the 28 lines deal with a separate campaign in Canaan, then part of Egypt’s imperial possessions. The stele is sometimes referred to as the « Israel Stela » because a majority of scholars translate a set of hieroglyphs in line 27 as « Israel. » Alternative translations have been advanced but are not widely accepted.[3]
If this consensus is correct, the stela represents the earliest textual reference to Israel and the only reference from ancient Egypt.[4] It is one of four known inscriptions that date to the time of and mention ancient Israel, the others being the Mesha Stele, the Tel Dan Stele, and the Kurkh Monolith.[5][6][7] As a result, some consider the stele to be Flinders Petrie‘s most famous discovery,[8] an opinion with which Petrie himself concurred.[9]
Description and context
The stele was discovered in 1896 by Flinders Petrie in the ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes, and first translated by Wilhelm Spiegelberg. In his « Inscriptions » chapter of Petrie’s 1897 publication « Six Temples at Thebes », Spiegelberg described the stele as « engraved on the rough back of the stele of Amenhotep III, which was removed from his temple, and placed back outward, against the wall, in the forecourt of the temple of Merenptah. Owing to the rough surface, and the poor cutting, the readings in many places require careful examination… The scene at the top retains its original colouring of yellow, red, and blue. Amen is shown giving a sword to the king, who is backed by Mut on one side and by Khonsu on the other ».[10]
Now in the collection of the Egyptian Museum at Cairo, the stele is a black granite slab, over 3 meters (10 feet) high, and the inscription says it was carved in the 5th year of Merneptah of the 19th dynasty. Most of the text glorifies Merneptah’s victories over enemies from Libya and their Sea People allies, but the final two lines mention a campaign in Canaan, where Merneptah says he defeated and destroyed Ashkalon, Gezer, Yanoam and Israel.
Egypt was the dominant power in the region during the long reign of Merneptah’s predecessor, Ramesses the Great, but Merneptah and one of his nearest successors, Ramesses III, faced major invasions. The problems began in Merneptah’s 5th year (1208), when a Libyan king invaded Egypt from the west in alliance with various northern peoples. Merneptah achieved a great victory in the summer of that year, and the inscription is mainly about this. The final lines deal with an apparently separate campaign in the East, where it seems that some of the Canaanite cities had revolted. Traditionally the Egyptians had concerned themselves only with cities, so the problem presented by Israel must have been something new – possibly attacks on Egypt’s vassals in Canaan. Merneptah and Ramesses III fought off their enemies, but it was the beginning of the end of Egypt’s control over Canaan – the last evidence of an Egyptian presence in the area is the name of Ramesses VI (1141–33) inscribed on a statue base from Megiddo.[11]
Lines 26–28
The bulk of the inscription deals with Merneptah’s victory over the Libyans, but the last 3 of the 28 lines shift to Canaan:[12]
The princes are prostrate, saying, « Peace! »
Not one is raising his head among the Nine Bows.
Now that Tehenu (Libya) has come to ruin,
Hatti is pacified;
The Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe:
Ashkelon has been overcome;
Gezer has been captured;
Yano’am is made non-existent.
Israel is laid waste and his seed is not;
Hurru is become a widow because of Egypt.
The « nine bows » is a term the Egyptians used to refer to their enemies – the actual enemies varied according to time and circumstance.[13] Hatti and Hurru are Syro-Palestine, Canaan and Israel are smaller units, and Ashkelon, Gezer and Yanoam are cities within the region; according to the stele, all these entities fell under the rule of the Egyptian empire at that time.[14]
Line 27
« Israel »
Petrie called upon Wilhelm Spiegelberg, a German philologist in his archaeological team, to translate the inscription. Spiegelberg was puzzled by one symbol towards the end, that of a people or tribe whom Merneptah (also written Merenptah) had victoriously smitten—I.si.ri.ar? Petrie quickly suggested that it read « Israel! » Spiegelberg agreed that this translation must be correct.[1] « Won’t the reverends be pleased? » remarked Petrie. At dinner that evening, Petrie who realized the importance of the find said: « This stele will be better known in the world than anything else I have found. » The news of its discovery made headlines when it reached the English papers.[1]
The line which refers to Israel is:
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ysrỉꜣr | fk.t | bn | pr.t | =f | |||||||||||||||||||
Israel | waste | [negative] | seed/grain | his/its |
Determinative
While Ashkelon, Gezer and Yanoam are given the determinative for a city – a throw stick plus three mountains – the hieroglyphs that refer to Israel instead employ the throw stick (the determinative for « foreign ») plus a sitting man and woman (the determinative for « people ») over three vertical lines (a plural marker):
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The determinatives « people » has been the subject of significant scholarly discussion. As early as 1955, John A. Wilson wrote of the idea that this determinative means the « ‘ysrỉꜣr » were a people that: « The argument is good, but not conclusive, because of the notorious carelessness of Late- Egyptian scribes and several blunders of writing in this stela ».[15] This sentiment was subsequently built upon by other scholars.[16]
According to The Oxford History of the biblical World, this « foreign people » « sign is typically used by the Egyptians to signify nomadic groups or peoples, without a fixed city-state home, thus implying a seminomadic or rural status for ‘Israel’ at that time. »[17][b] The phrase « wasted, bare of seed » is formulaic, and often used of defeated nations – it implies that the grain-store of the nation in question has been destroyed, which would result in a famine the following year, incapacitating them as a military threat to Egypt.[17]
According to James Hoffmeier, « no Egyptologists would ever read the signs of a foreign ethnic entity as indicating a foreign land, but a people group.’[18]
In contrast to this apparent Israelite statelessness, the other Canaanite groups fought by Egypt: Ashkelon, Gezer, and Yano’am, are described in the stele as nascent states.[19]
Alternative translations
While alternatives to the reading « Israel » have been put forward since the stele’s discovery – the two primary candidates being « Jezreel »,[20][21][22] a city and valley in northern Canaan, and a continuation of the description of Libya referring to « wearers of the sidelock »[c] – most scholars accept that Merneptah refers to « Israel ».[d]
Interpretation
It is not clear, however, just who this Israel was or where they were located.[25][e] For the « who », if those depicted on the battle reliefs of Karnak are the Israelites, then Merneptah’s Israelites are therefore Canaanites, because they are depicted in Canaanite costume; if, on the other hand, the Karnak reliefs do not show Merneptah’s campaigns, then the stele’s Israelites may be « Shasu », a term used by the Egyptians to refer to nomads and marauders.[27]
Similarly, if Merneptah’s claim to have destroyed Israel’s « seed » means that he destroyed its grain supply, then Israel can be taken to be a settled, crop-growing people; if, however, it means he killed Israel’s progeny, then Israel can be taken to be pastoralists, i.e., Shasu.[28] The normative Egyptian use of « wasted, bare of seed » was as a repeated, formulaic phrase to declare victory over a defeated nation or people group whom the Egyptian army conquered and had literally destroyed their grain supply in the specific geographic region that they inhabited.[17] Michael G. Hasel, arguing that prt on the stele meant grain, suggested that « Israel functioned as an agriculturally based or sedentary socioethnic entity in the late 13th century BCE »[29] and this in some degree of contrast to nomadic « Shasu » pastoralists in the region. Others disagree that prt meant grain, and Edward Lipinski wrote that « the « classical » opposition of nomadic shepherds and settled farmers does not seem to suit the area concerned ».[30] Hasel also says that this does not suggest that the Israelites were an urban people at this time, nor does it provide information about the actual social structure of the people group identified as Israel.[29] Biblical scholar Thomas L. Thompson writes that « this name in the Merneptah inscription of the late thirteenth-century might conceivably understand it as the name of a region, in polarity with the clearly geographical name: Canaan. » Also, « The group « Israel » … are rather a very specific group among the population of Palestine which bears a name that occurs here for the first time that at a much later stage in Palestine’s history bears a substantially different signification. » For, « References to the Merneptah stele are not really helpful. This text renders for us only the earliest known usage of the name ‘Israel.' » So, « to begin the origins of biblical Israel with Merneptah … on the grounds that we have extra-biblical rather than biblical attestation is willful. These texts are, mirabile dictu, even less relevant than the biblical traditions. »[31]
As for its location, most scholars believe that Merneptah’s Israel must have been in the hill country of central Canaan, but some think it was across the Jordan, others that it was a coalition of Canaanite settlements in the lowlands of the Jezreel valley (the potential Israelites on the walls of Karnak are driving chariots, a weapon of the lowlands rather than the highlands), and others that the inscription gives very little useful information at all.[32]
Karnak reliefs
The stele was found in Merenptah’s funerary chapel in Thebes, the ancient Egyptian capital on the west bank of the Nile. On the opposite bank is the Temple of Karnak, where the fragmentary copy was found. In the 1970s Frank Yurco announced that some reliefs at Karnak which had been thought to depict events in the reign of Ramesses II, Merenptah’s father, in fact belonged to Merenptah. The four reliefs show the capture of three cities, one of them labelled as Ashkelon; Yurco suggested that the other two were Gezer and Yanoam. The fourth shows a battle in open hilly country against an enemy shown as Canaanite. Yurco suggested that this scene was to be equated with the Israel of the stele. While the idea that Merneptah’s Israelites are to be seen on the walls of the temple has had an influence on many theories regarding the significance of the inscription, not all Egyptologists accept Yurco’s ascription of the reliefs to Merneptah.[33]
Notes
- Jump up^ In the original text, the bird (a sparrow) is placed below the t sign (a semicircle) but for reasons of legibility, the bird is here placed next to the t sign.
- Jump up^ Whether the Egyptian scribes used these determinatives consistently in general and in the Merneptah Stele in particular, is in itself a matter of some debate.[14]
- Jump up^ Nibbi suggests that the first character in « I.si.ri.ar » was misread – rather than G1, Nibbi suggests G4, and that such an amendment would allow the characters to be translated as « wearers of the sidelock », which refers to Libyans in other sources such as the Book of Gates. Nibbi supports this by noting that the male figure has an apparent outgrowth of hair on the side of his head.[23]
- Jump up^ Hassel (2008): « The view that the term ysry·r/l is a possible territory within Canaan but not associated with biblical Israel was proposed by Othniel Margalith (1990). His conclusions are based on the suggestion by G. R. Driver (1948: 135) that the Egyptian letter ‘s’ in the word could also represent the Hebrew zayin. Accordingly, the name ysry·r/l could be translated as Iezreel « which might be an inexperienced way of rendering Yezreel, the valley to the north of the country » (Margalith 1990: 229). As others have pointed out elsewhere, Margalith’s attempts to identify the entity ysry·r/l with Israel or Jezreel through Ugaritic vocalizations and a Sumerian title of a king are not convincing for an Egyptian inscription with a clear context for this entity in Canaan (Hasel 1994: 46; 1998a: 196–97; compare Kitchen 1966a: 91). » and « The suggestion of equating the ysry·r/l of the stela with Jezreel has now been taken up anew by I. Hjelm and Thomas L. Thompson (2002: 14) without any reference to earlier discussions. The identification is rife with difficulties. First, the Egyptian signs for « bolt » (Gardiner 1957: 507, O34) and « folded cloth » (Gardiner 1957: 507, S29) in Old Egyptian represented the sound s. In the New Kingdom, Hebrew zayin is rendered q or t in Egyptian and not s (Kitchen 1966a: 91, 1966b 59; Helck 1971: 18, 554, 589). Second, ysry·r/l does not include the Egyptian equivalent of ayin needed for the reading yzrªl. Third, the reading “Jezreel” must assume that the determinative for people used with ysry·r/ l was a scribal error, because it does not fit the designation of a geographical location. The orthographic and philological reasons mitigate the reading of ysry·r/ l as Jezreel (see also Kitchen 2004). »[24]
- Jump up^ Davies (2008): « Assuming we have Merneptah’s dates correctly as 1213-1203, and that the reading « Israel » is correct, the reference places an Israel in Palestine in the thirteenth century. The word read (probably correctly) as « Israel » also has a sign indicating a people and not a place. That makes the alternative reading « Jezreel » less likely — though Hebrew « s » and « z » could both be represented by the same Egyptian letter; also, since « Jezreel » is partly made up of the word for « seed », the inscription could be a pun by a Semitic speaking scribe. It might also be considered that Merneptah would find it easier to fight in the plain of Jezreel than in the highlands. »[26]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merneptah_Stele
麦伦普塔赫石碑
- 本条目的部分内容翻译自英語維基百科条目Merneptah Stele(版本228741644)並以知识共享-署名-相同方式共享3.0协议授权使用。原文作者列表請參閱其页面历史。
- Giacobbe Giusti, Merneptah Stele
麥倫普塔赫石碑(The Merneptah Stele),别名以色列石碑(the Israel Stele)或法老麥倫普塔赫胜利纪念碑(Victory Stele of Merneptah)。这座石碑是一座大型暗色花岗岩石碑,为古埃及法老阿蒙霍特普三世(Amenhotep III)所立。后来法老麥倫普塔赫(Merneptah)在公元前1213年到前1203年在位,他在此石碑上刻下碑文。碑文内容纪念了法老麥倫普塔赫的一次重要战役的胜利,此战埃及军队击败了Libu 和 Meshwesh两支利比亚人部落以及他们的海上民族盟友。碑文的最后两行提及了先前发生在迦南的一次战役,法老麥倫普塔赫在碑文中声称在此战中他击败了亚实基伦(Ashkelon,迦南地的非利士人城邦)、基色(Gezer,迦南地的城市)、雅罗安(Yanoam)、以色列(Israel)等民族的军队。[1]
埃及学家弗林德斯·皮特里(Flinders Petrie)于1896年在底比斯古城的法老麥倫普塔赫祭庙中发现了这座石碑。[2] 皮特里有评论说,“这座石碑的名声会超过我发现的所有其他东西”。[3]如今它收藏在开罗的埃及博物馆。碑文的一个不完整的抄件在卡纳克被发现。[4] 石碑高度为318厘米或大约10英尺,宽度163厘米。[5]碑文的主体先是叙述文字,最后以一首诗歌结束,这正是当时埃及新王国时代的碑文风格。碑文记载的年代为“(法老麥倫普塔赫在位)五年,夏季第三月,三日”,大约为公元前1209或前1208年。
碑文声名显赫的原因在于这是唯一提到以色列( « Isrir » 或者 « Israel »)的古埃及文字记录。同样碑文也是至今为止发现的证明以色列存在的年代最古的证据。因此许多学者将此石碑称为以色列石碑。这个称谓有些误导的性质,因为碑文内容明显不是为以色列而作的,仅仅是在行文中提到一次以色列罢了。
只有一行提到了以色列,该行的译文为:“以色列惨遭蹂躏,几乎灭种”( »Israel is wasted, bare of seed »)。该行另一种译文为“以色列荒芜,其种无存”( »Israel lies waste, its seed no longer exists »)。碑文提到迦南地的内容很少。以色列仅仅是和亚实基伦(Ashkelon)、基色(Gezer)和雅罗安(Yanoam)一起在碑文中提到一次罢了。法老麥倫普塔赫是在碑文中插入了这行提到他在迦南地的战役,但碑文主要内容是他对利比亚部落和海上民族的战役的胜利。提到麥倫普塔赫的迦南地战役的碑文内容是,“迦南悲哀地臣服。亚实基伦被征服。基色被攻占。雅罗安不复存在。以色列惨遭蹂躏,几乎灭种。”
现在人们对于碑文的分歧集中在法老麥倫普塔赫的迦南战役是否真实发生。另外人们对碑文是否真实描述迦南战役也产生了疑问,怀疑碑文是否同亚述文献一样从来不承认亚述的战败。持怀疑观点的人们指出,另一篇关于卡叠石战役的碑文明确了麥倫普塔赫的父亲拉美西斯二世对迦南地的统治十分稳固。因此麥倫普塔赫即位后再次征服迦南地的战役就显得奇怪了。除非当地爆发了叛乱,以至于麥倫普塔赫认为有必要为了重建埃及统治而敉平叛乱。如果是这样的话,那麥倫普塔赫对迦南地的统治不怎么稳固。
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以上为碑文“以色列”的古埃及象形文字。由于碑文中“以色列”只出现一次,使得专家搜集信息推断此处“以色列”的所指较为困难。碑文明确此“以色列”是指一个民族,而不是国家。因为此处“以色列”象形文字中没有“国家”这个表意符号。碑文中和以色列同列的敌人亚实基伦(Ashkelon)、基色(Gezer)和雅罗安(Yanoam),象形文字符号组合中有“城邦”的表意符号。这个“城邦”符号形如“一根投掷棒加三座山”。而我们所见的“以色列”的象形文字符号组合却使用了另一个表示埃及之外民族的表意符号,形如“一根投掷棒加一个男人加一个女人,在这个男人和女人的下方有三条竖线”。埃及人使用这个符号来表示游牧民族,或者说是没有自己固定城市的民族。于是碑文的这种表达方式暗示了在法老麥倫普塔赫第五年,以色列人处在半游牧状态或者居于乡村的状态。[6]除了这个分析之外,学者对当时以色列的其他状况得出结论非常少。
Giacobbe Giusti, Merneptah Stele
Donald Redford提出的理论认为此“以色列”是一支与贝都因人类似的游牧人,埃及人称之为“Shasu”。Redford注意到法老阿蒙霍特普三世的Soleb temple里的记载公元前15世纪的“Shasu”族群的列表中,有一个是“Yhw,在Shasu之地”。Yhw被认为是Yaw或Yahweh的早期形式。而Yahweh正是希伯来语圣经(基督教的圣经旧约)里以色列的上帝。这个以色列人和Shasu存在关系的学说被质疑。因为在麦伦普塔赫石碑碑文中,以色列人并未被描绘为Shasu。碑文中以色列人与迦南城邦亚实基伦人、基色人和雅罗安人,两者在服装和发型上别无二致。[7]碑文中的亚实基伦人等城邦人民正在保卫自己的城市。“以色列”人紧接着在这些迦南地的城邦人民之后被提到。看来人们对此不会形成成熟可靠的结论。在麦伦普塔赫石碑之后,下一个提到以色列的非圣经文献就是300年后的米沙石碑。米沙石碑碑文记载了以色列王暗利和摩押人的战争。麦伦普塔赫石碑时代200年后扫罗成为以色列联合王国的王。这200年的历史圣经的记载很粗略。以色列如何转变为一个王国仍然需要研究。无论如何,麦伦普塔赫石碑是以色列历史的重要资料,它是关于“以色列”的第一次官方纪录,尽管信息不多。
Institute of Southern Adventist University 的Michael G. Hasel提出,在公元前13世纪晚期,以色列已经成为迦南地的一支成熟的政治力量。他认为麦伦普塔赫石碑固然没有使得我们明确当时以色列的社会状况,但碑文的确提到以色列意味着他成为埃及人在迦南地必须面对的政治实体。[8]
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ysrỉr[10] | fk.t | bn | pr.t | =f | ||||||||||||||||||
Israel | waste | [negative] | seed/grain | his/its | ||||||||||||||||||
以色列 | 消耗 | [表否定意] | 种/谷 | 他的/它的 |
参见
引注
- 跳转^ Carol A. Redmount, ‘Bitter Lives: Israel in and out of Egypt’ in The Oxford History of the Biblical World, ed. Michael D. Coogan, (Oxford University Press: 1999), p.97
- 跳转^ Ian Shaw & Paul Nicholson, The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, British Museum Press, (1995), pp.183-184
- 跳转^ Flinders Petrie: A life in archaeology. Margaret Drower, 1985
- 跳转^ Redmount, op.cit., p.97
- 跳转^ Alessandro Bongioanni & Maria Croce (ed.), The Treasures of Ancient Egypt: From the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Universe Publishing, a division of Ruzzoli Publications Inc., 2003. p.186
- 跳转^ Redmount, op.cit., p.97
- 跳转^ Stager, Lawrence E., « Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel » in Michael Coogan ed. The Oxford History of the Biblical World, Oxford University Press, 2001. p.92
- 跳转^ M. G. Hasel, « Israel in the Merneptah Stela, » BASOR 296, 1994, pp.54 & 56, n.12.
- 跳转^ In the original text, the bird (a swallow) is placed below the t sign (a semicircle) but for reasons of legibility, the bird is here placed next to the t sign.
- 跳转^ According to Flinders Petrie.
参考
- Coogan, Michael D., 1999. The Oxford History of the Biblical Word, Oxford University Press
- Görg, Manfred. 2001. « Israel in Hieroglyphen. » Biblische Notizen: Beiträge zur exegetischen Diskussion 106:21–27.
- Hasel, Michael G. 1994. « Israel in the Merneptah Stela. » Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 296:45–61.
- Hasel, Michael G. 1998. Domination and Resistance: Egyptian Military Activity in the Southern Levant, 1300–1185 BC. Probleme der Ägyptologie 11. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-*10984-6
- Hasel, Michael G. 2003. « Merenptah’s Inscription and Reliefs and the Origin of Israel » in Beth Alpert Nakhai ed. The Near East in the Southwest: Essays in Honor of William G. Dever, pp. 19–44. Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research 58. Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research. ISBN 0-89757-065-0
- Hasel, Michael G. 2004. « The Structure of the Final Hymnic-Poetic Unit on the Merenptah Stela. » Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 116:75–81.
- Kitchen, Kenneth Anderson. 1994. « The Physical Text of Merneptah’s Victory Hymn (The ‘Israel Stela’). » Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities 24:71–76.
- Kitchen, Kenneth A. Ramesside Inscriptions, Translated & Annotated Translations. Volume 4: Merenptah & the Late Nineteenth Dynasty. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2003. ISBN 0-631-18429-5
- Kuentz, Charles. 1923. « Le double de la stèle d’Israël à Karnak. » Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 21:113–117.
- Lichtheim, Miriam. 1976. Ancient Egyptian Literature, A Book of Readings. Volume 2: The New Kingdom. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Manassa, Colleen. 2003. The Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah: Grand Strategy in the Thirteenth Century BC. Yale Egyptological Studies 5. New Haven: Yale Egyptological Seminar, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University. ISBN 0-9740025-0-X
- Redford, Donald Bruce. 1992. Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Redmount, Carol A. ‘Bitter Lives: Israel in and out of Egypt’ in The Oxford History of the Biblical World, ed: Michael D. Coogan, (Oxford University Press: 1999),
- Stager, Lawrence E. 1985. « Merenptah, Israel and Sea Peoples: New Light on an Old Relief. » Eretz Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographic Studies 18:56*–64*.
- Stager, Lawrence E. 2001. « Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel » in Michael Coogan ed. The Oxford History of the Biblical World, pp. 90–129. New York: Oxford University Press.